Sunday-
Frank the Guide picked up Larry, Monica, Frank the Senior and me and showed us the city of Shanghai via minivan. Our very able driver, Yao, might think about a career with Nascar or some other death defying occupation. As best as I can tell, the biggest and fastest vehicle wins. Stoplights are generally obeyed by large motorized vehicles but are only a suggestion for bikes, trikes, scooters and motorcycles. There is no such thing as pedestrian right of way but that doesn’t stop anybody from crossing right in front of moving vehicles.
We visited the Old Temple of Town God, Yuyuan Garden from the Ming dynasty. The Chinese dragon has the body of a snake, head of an buffalo, feet of an eagle, ears of a ?bear- all together I think it is about seven creatures rolled into one. Cool huh?
During the afternoon we rode to the 88th floor of the Jinmao Tower for a great view of all of the many skyscrapers of Shanghai and enjoyed a boat ride on the Huang Pu river that flows into the Yangtze river and into the East China Sea. I expected to see the very old (Ming dynasty) and the old (early 1900’s) Shanghai but it was quite phenomenal to see the very new Shanghai. The new city is vibrant, bustling, cosmopolitan and very capitalistic- bottom line – it is booming!
We ate dinner at a trendy restaurant (like Virginia-Highlands). Great meal.
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